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"There is no point in releasing open source drivers without open documentation, without context the resulting source code is about as comprehensible as an elvish magic spellbook."
If the obfuscated source code is well modularised, with no assembly and a clear separation between IO and processing :
- You can retarget any CPU architecture, instead of x86-only.
- You can retarget any operating system, instead of Xorg on OpenBSD/Solaris/Linux.
I'm convinced that there is no magic in NVidia code, they could actually deliver documentation and, as a buyer, I will prefer ATI for now.
The tough part is with code encumbered with legislative or DRM-like protections, like the WiFi chips. For these kinds of constraints, I could tolerate an obfuscated source code with no documentation.
(Maybe NVidia is hiding the HDMI link and the x264 decoder, not available in the Linux driver, far more than 3D features. Maybe they are ashame of their source code :-).
Member since:
2005-08-12
There is no point in releasing open source drivers without open documentation, without context the resulting source code is about as comprehensible as an elvish magic spellbook.
Just need documentation. AMD/ATI can do it.
Edited 2008-06-25 09:58 UTC